We WERE all set to start the motorcycle lifestyle...

N

Nitromethane1261

New member
Forum Sponsor
Hey folks! I'm new to the forum, and I live in Downtown Toronto with my wife. This will be a long post, but I thank everyone in advance for bearing with me and hopefully giving me some input :-)


We used to drive all the time - driven clear across the country half a dozen times in the past 2 years, up to the Yukon, all over Alberta, driven the BC mountains a dozen times, and always had a blast on our impromptu road trips. Now with the rise in gas prices, a lower paid job, and our gas-guzzling truck, it would make even a trip to Ottawa a big ordeal and a financial burden.


3 weeks ago we were looking at e-Bikes as a way to get around the city, but their limited range and the hassles of figuring out where to charge the battery in an apartment building made that a short lived idea. This progressed to getting a Vespa - but lets face it - you still need to get a license and insurance for a Vespa, and it's not very "cool" - so my wife said "well since you need a license and insurance anyway, why don't you just get a motorcycle?"


I actually was very surprised, as she doesn't even like CARS - she likes pickup trucks because they're big and safe when driving in deer country LOL. But we looked at all the safety equipment available, researched the best options for us, and we both got very comfortable and enthusiastic at the prospect of having a motorcycle lifestyle.


We decided that I should start on a Ninja 250R, then after a couple of seasons of solo riding, we could 2-up and get a Kawasaki Versys 650 (based on a friends recommendation for our purposes and having 2 people on the bike).


Then today, she spent the entire morning and early afternoon reading articles about accident studies, fatalities, and how the most common accident on a motorcycle happens around a corner. What really terrified my wife was: "What happens after you come off the bike?" - she read a bunch of stuff about people flying off highway overpasses because the barrier walls are too low, sliding off cliff edges, or getting run over by traffic after sliding across a highway. These are things that you cannot protect yourself against with body armour, unless they developed an emergency parachute too that we didn't come across!


Not only that, but she's also been reading references to how easily a bike loses traction - apparently, according to one source, it'll even slip going over road paint! Now - I thought that may be a little excessive to worry about - there's thousands of bikes ridden by complete morons that don't seem to slip on painted road lines every time they change lanes. But reading pretty much every horror story and safety issue known to man, condensed into a slew of articles, will understandably make anyone fear for their life!


We are in our late 20's - we are both mature and responsible adults, we don't take unnecessary risks, and are not daredevil's by nature. We don't want to street race or stunt ride - in fact, we don't even want to ride at night, or in the rain when at all avoidable. We'd like to be fair-weather riders :-)


While my wife's safety concerns are certainly valid - motorcycles ARE inherently dangerous. How much of her concern is a symptom of over-reading terrifying articles about "what COULD happen" and how much is a truly legitimate concern? Are we going to slide off the edge of a cliff going through the Canadian Shield if there's a bit of sand in the road? Is it likely that we'll get into an accident or lose control exiting the highway and end up flying over the side of an overpass?


I suggested that perhaps we should simply slow down when going around those curves - but she was reading about how that it's actually safer to not slow down, and that you should actually DOUBLE the speed on the yellow cautionary speed signs to safely make the turn on a motorcycle. Is that real? Or was that a facetious article?? I cannot fathom taking some of the mountain roads we've driven at 50km/h on a motorcycle on a 90 degree bend where the cautionary sign tells you 25km/h. Surely a motorcycle should be capable of taking that turn at 25km/h?


Anyway, I've typed more than plenty - hopefully you didn't fall asleep, and I can get some good feedback from, what appears to be, a great local community :-)


Thanks!

 
Last edited:
yes its very dangerous. Take a look at the fallen riders section of this forum, and judge for yourself how much of a risk you are willing to take. Its good that you folks have taken the time to understand and to research the risks involved...you'd be surprised how many people adopt the 'leap before you look' mentality here.

Personally, if i lived DT, i would not bother riding on the streets...too much traffic, too many careless drivers, too much risk. I'm a country back-roads type of guy. Don't like cars around me.

Going slower than the flow of traffic does not help anyone.
 
Last edited:
Welcome.

I think you are over analyzing things a bit much. Yes, there are risks, and not if us have had a small fall or something similar in the past .

Like driving a car, a lot of the accidents are due to the operator.

I would suggest going to get your licence through a course. Get some kms and experience under your belt .

From your post, you would be someone who would ride in all your gear which will help you should you fall off - it's about reducing your risks.

Good luck.
 
Wow, that was a long post. But all concerns aside, you have to understand the risk and move on. Nothing beats riding my long time gf was equally concerned until she rode on the back. Make sure you research the positives of riding as well. Good luck


---
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=43.647790,-79.869410
 
Nitromethane1261 said:
...We are in our late 20's - we are both mature and responsible adults, we don't take unnecessary risks, and are not daredevil's by nature. We don't want to street race or stunt ride - in fact, we don't even want to ride at night, or in the rain when at all avoidable. We'd like to be fair-weather riders :-)...
Click to expand...

Welcome, first of all. I read your whole post. The part that stood out for me the most was the above paragraph. You sound very much like myself, only much younger :)

Yes, riding a motorcycle can be dangerous. But, if it's something you really want to do, prepare yourself the best way you can, i.e. take a motorcycle riding course and practice, practice, practice.

Yes, it's scary reading about the 'fallen riders', etc. But, I've never regretted getting my M2 or purchasing a motorcycle.
 
Nitromethane1261 said:
"what COULD happen"

Click to expand...

If you ride with that thought in mind, you will be safer. Always think about what could go wrong, who is going to cut you off, what obstacle is around the corner that I cannot see, etc. Always be alert and pay attention to whats going on around you 360 degrees.

And you take turns at whatever speed you are comfortable with. If you think double the caution speed sign is too high, then don't go that fast.
 
The first thing that you have to realize, about motorcycles, is that they are inherently unstable. If you don't hold them up, they fall down. Everything after that is gravy.

Perception of risk is an interesting thing and there are a multitude of scholarly treatises, on the subject. What we consider a reasonable assessment of danger generally isn't because we aren't built to make accurate assessments, we're built to survive. That's why we worry about our children being abducted or molested by a stranger when, statistically speaking, it's far more likely to be a family member or friend who is the danger.

If you really want to scare your wife, give her some write-ups on the dangers of swimming or canoeing in Ontario.

Body armour won't save you from having your chest crushed, by a car bumper or telephone pole. I've known two people, who went just that way. It won't save you from free-fall off the Humber Bridge. How likely are those things? I could say either "not very" or "depends", and still be accurate with either. Skill, training, knowledge, and perception make those things less likely to occur, as does choosing to ride in only in daylight, during good weather. Riding is an exercise in risk mitigation. How much risk are you willing to put up with? Make your choices accordingly.
 
The Canada Safety Council's Gearing Up motorcycle training course is designed exactly to address those issues.

I suggest that both of you take it together when getting your licenses. It helped increase my confidence greatly. This is coming from a newbie with no previous riding experience.
 
If everyone decided not to do things based on physical risk, it would be a very boring world.
 
Nitromethane1261 said:
We'd like to be fair-weather riders :-)
Click to expand...

This isn't really compatible with your safety concerns. 'fair-weather riders' who never ride in adverse conditions are the kind of riders with no idea how to handle such an adverse situation when it occurs unexpectedly. If you wanna be safe, leave this idea behind.

Practice dealing with things like rain, low visibility and extreme temperatures are critical safety skills.
 
Last edited:
Nitromethane1261 said:
We are in our late 20's - we are both mature and responsible adults, we don't take unnecessary risks, and are not daredevil's by nature. We don't want to street race or stunt ride - in fact, we don't even want to ride at night, or in the rain when at all avoidable. We'd like to be fair-weather riders :-)
Click to expand...

Regardless of what anyone may try to convince you of about cars and trucks wanting to kill all motorcycle riders, your chances of avoiding a crash rest mostly in your own hands. I've got over 35 years of riding with no crashes over many many miles highway, city and back roads. There are also others here have much more than that, so it is possible to survive motorcycle riding without even a scratch.

The majority of rider fatalities this year occurred mostly as a result of the rider losing control. In many cases there were no other vehicles involved at all as the motorcycle left the road. In other crashes, other vehicles got involved only after the motorcycle rider had lost control and crashed into them.

Yes, there were a few cases of left-turning cars and trucks turning in front of an approaching motorcycle that was doing everything right and travelling at reasonable speeds, but for the most part the majority of riders that died in crashes went down mostly due to their own riding errors or outright misbehaviour, big or small. Running off the road only to come to a hard stop against a ditch, tree, fence, guard rail, culvert, often on curves. Running in to the BACK of other vehicles. Riding impaired. Riding at speeds markedly faster than surrounding traffic. Riding stupid.

Most of these are easily avoidable if you are smart and mature enough to do so. On the other hand, if you want to treat your bike riding as if it's supposed to be like a carnival thrill ride...

If you're worried about risk of major hurt, start by looking at your (and your wife's) driving records in your cars so far. If that record is relatively free of accidents regardless of fault and regardless of severity, then you may be good candidates for a career of safe riding. The reason I say "regardless of fault or severity" is because on a bike, a rider in a crash is much more likely to be injured regardless of fault and regardless of severity of crash.

If your prior defensive driving skills and prudence are such that you have avoided not only causing an accident yourself but also avoided potential crashes caused by others, then you're in a much better place to start riding than many others on the road. On the other hand, if you're already crash magnets in your cars, then maybe a "motorcycle lifestyle" may not be the ideal thing for you.
 
Last edited:
You mentioned that you live in an apartment?
Condo/apartment building parking lots are not conducive to motorcycle ownership. Usually the security staff in the building have friends/relatives that are thieves and your bike will soon end up in a container on the way to Jamaica/Mexico/Russia.
 
Sounds like a lot of worrying and over thinking. Take the riders training course and then see how you feel about motorcycling
 
Well, you will have close calls, that's 100% sure. Depending on how cautiously you ride, how aware you are of your surroundings and how well you can anticipate, you can ride another day until your next close call. Best of luck!
 
Great post TurboDish.
 
Read stats on other automotive accidents as well. That'll scare her from driving too! But really, if she can tolerate driving stats, bike stats shouldn't be that hard to stomach.
 
Sounds like you and you're wife are very anal about vehicles, weather conditions, taking moderate risks, and living life in general. - Prick ;)
 
Last edited:
To start, read "Proficient Motorcycling" by David L. Hough. It is chocked full of risk reduction techniques, be it local roads or highways. It is better to be informed about the risks you will assume, rather than rely on sensationalized news articles.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom